180 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



the same day I left for here. He showed me his Soli- 

 tary Sandpiper's eggs. I think they are not the eggs 

 of the Spotted Sandpiper. They should be larger to be 

 those, but instead were smaller and darker than those of 

 the spotted. He said he had some for me but I did not 

 get them." 



' ' I have not much to report so far this year in natural 

 history," Mr. Boardman writes on June 14, 1875, "only 

 that I shot one Cedar bird with the waxen tips and 

 bright yellow instead of red. I have been on the look- 

 out for more eggs of the Ring-necked Duck. There are 

 four pairs breeding at Kendrick's lake but I cannot as 

 yet find the eggs. I was also told of some large Plovers 

 breeding at St. Andrews island and engaged a man to 

 try and find the eggs, also to be sure and get the birds. 

 He sent me a nice pair of Black-bellied Plovers which 

 looked as if killed with a club. The female had laid 

 but I have not heard whether the eggs were found. I 

 have never known this bird to breed with us although 

 Wilson and Audubon say some breed in the United 

 States." Writing from Jacksonville, Fla., December 30, 

 1875, he writes : "When in Boston I heard of a Black 

 Robin taken at Plymouth. I saw two persons who saw 

 the bird in a cage. I at once wrote to Mr. Joyce, a 

 bird shooter, who does considerable shooting winters and 

 enclose his letter. I tried to follow this Mr. Baldwin, 

 the owner of the bird, to see what became of it, but 

 could not find where he went from Plymouth. Dr. 

 Coues wanted me to make a record of any small birds I 

 could hear about in black plumage." 



Notes found in letters of 1878 are : June 21 : "I got a 

 crow with a very long, slender beak, fully three-fourths of 



